Book owned by Sir Isaac Newton found in Welsh university

A book which was owned by Sir Isaac Newton has been found in a rare books collection at a Welsh university’s library.

A book which was owned by Sir Isaac Newton has been found in a rare books collection at a Welsh university’s library.

Rare book cataloguer Ken Gibb discovered the book, Thomas Browne’s “Myographia Nova” or “A graphical description of all the muscles in the humane body”, at the Rare Books Collection at Cardiff University Library. He traced it back to the famous physicist’s library by tracking down the owners of several bookplates left inside.

He began to research the bookplates – paper marked with the owner’s coat of arms – last November, as part of a larger project after the university bought 14,000 rare volumes from Cardiff Public Library in 2010.

And while Sir Isaac rarely wrote in books himself, there is evidence of him handling the volume.

“He used to fold over pages to mark things he was interested in and there is evidence pages were folded over at some point,” said Mr Gibb.

The 300-year-old volume, is an exciting addition to Sir Isaac Newton’s library, which researchers have been trying to trace for 40 years.

Around 800 books owned by Sir Isaac are held in Trinity College, Cambridge, but Mr Gibb said many others were auctioned off or pulped after their identity was lost when Baronet Musgrave inherited the library in 1778.

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